Alice Aycock’s “Park Avenue Paper Chase” Debuts

MAJOR TEMPORARY PUBLIC ART IN NEW YORK CITY: Alice Aycock‘s Park Avenue Paper Chase is a series of seven sculptures that were created for the heart of Manhattan on Park Avenue between 52nd and 57th Streets. Ranging from 12 to 27 feet in height and 18 to 70 feet in length, the aluminum and fiberglass works of art form an inspiring presence. Beginning Saturday, 8 March, Aycock’s public art project will be on view through 20 July 2014.

ON VIEW FROM 8 MARCH to 20 JULY: Alice Aycock reached international acclaim early on, gaining attention in the 1980’s for her large-scale mechanical installations. Since the start of her career within the bustling New York art world, Alice Aycock must be counted as the forerunner of many female artists who have conquered the male-dominated sculpting scene. At the same time, Aycock belongs to a generation of artists that have appropriated and questioned the technological and positivist approach of western civilization.

According to Aycock: ” I tried to visualize the movement of wind energy as it flowed up and down the avenue creating random whirlpools, touching down here and there and sometimes forming dynamic three-dimensional massing of forms. The sculptural assemblages suggest waves, wind turbulence, turbines, and vortexes of energy.”

“Aycock is an artist who thinks on paper, and her spectacular drawings are equal parts engineering plan and science fiction imagining. (…) Concurrent with most drawings for actual public projects, Aycock has become increasingly preoccupied with virtual reality, and her current work addresses a blurring of the real, the imagined, and the almost-real, allowing us to, in her words, transport ourselves ‘farther into another place’.” Photo Courtesy of Aycock Studio.

Alice Aycock’s pubic art project is presented under the auspices of The Fund for Park Avenue and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.